That’s right, Amazon gave away 101,491 copies of our app! At this point, we had a few seconds of excitement as well, had we mis-read the email and really earned $54,800 in one day? We would have done if our public agreement was in place, but we can now confirm that thanks to Amazon’s secret back-door deals, we made $0 on that day. That’s right, over 100,000 apps given away, $0 made.

I’ve seen some blogs report that Amazon claimed it gave all developers of such “Free Apps of the Day” 20% of their usual sale price per giveaway, while actually giving Shifty Jelly nothing, but that’s not the true story; Shifty Jelly did know in advance that Amazon wouldn’t give them a single cent, and had the option not to give Pocket Casts away as a Free App of the Day.

No, Shifty Jelly was actually calling Amazon out for allowing the public to think that they’d be somehow helping the developers out by downloading their free apps; for their lengthy review times (it takes up to two weeks to get a new update approved); for being able to change the sale price of the app at any time; and for being generally underhanded.

So, boo hiss to big bully Amazon, right? Well… not exactly. The terms of service that developers agree to when they sign up allow Amazon to do all of these things, and Amazon do let the developers know that they won’t make any cash from participating in their promotion, even if they don’t shout that fact from the rooftops to the public. Plus, it’s an alternative Market; it’s not like it’s the only place for developers to sell their apps.

Developers are already weighing in on this issue elsewhere, but I want to know what customers think. Does this behavior put you off buying apps from Amazon? Vote in the poll, and let me know what you think in the comments.

The Amazon Appstore launched fairly recently and it’s really cool — offering a paid app for free every day — but unfortunately it’s limited to US customers, making the rest of us feel like that kid who’s not invited to the cool party down the street.

I recently got a new Android phone and I realised that it’s crazy that I, living in the UK, can’t access the Amazon Appstore. So I did some searching around and discovered that there is a fairly easy workaround to give access to their store to everyone, not just those in the USA.

I was pretty excited when Amazon launched their Appstore for Android. On top of a healthy bit of competition, they offer exclusive apps like Angry Birds Rio and, most recently, Plants vs. Zombies for Android, and they offer a free app download everyday. That means you check Amazon daily, and there’s a chance you’ll save at least 99 cents (USD).

Well, I’ve gotten into the habit of checking every day (though I could also follow them on Twitter at @amazonappstore), and even if I don’t install the app right away, more often than not I will “purchase” it, in case I want to try it later. Today I’m going to give you my favorite apps offered as part of Amazon’s Free App of the Day — if not for these offers, I might not have discovered them!

One Amazon fan has put together amzndeal.com, a website which keeps you updated on the daily free MP3 and app downloads from Amazon through Facebook, RSS, and Twitter.

Amazon launched their own Android application marketplace recently, dubbed the “Appstore” (to the dislike of Apple). The marketplace allows users to download and purchase applications for Android handsets right from the Amazon website, in a similar manner to Google’s own Android Market.

Android’s strength has always been in choice. Choice of handset, choice of skin, choice of carrier, and so on. And while there have always been some third-party app discovery sites and marketplaces, nothing like Amazon’s offering has came along. Now there’s choice in marketplace but also choice in payment method too. Amazon already has the strength and the scale to bring their store to a wide audience, which is an immediate advantage over Google’s fairly-tucked away store.

In this article, we’ll discuss how the Amazon Appstore can benefit you, the consumer.(more…)